Hiya,
I have a 1 yr old cockapoo who seems to have a bit of a dodgy gut.
When he came home at 8 weeks we tried to move him from Gusto puppy to Acana, and he got colitis.
Vet said Acana was too high in protein for his system, he did a day of starvation and then moved onto steamed cod and sweet potato mash, and he improved.
We then went onto Wainwrights grain free and he wasn’t much better, so searched for a food that had fish and potato and ended up on Fish4Dogs.
He then turned a corner, his poop improved and the first of the day was solid, getting more soft each time, especially when he was being exercised.
Then he decided he didn’t want to eat it, so we tried wetting it which worked for a week or two, again the refusal, so we added wet meat, after a few months he refused that too regardless of flavour, we used Forthglade grain free wet meat.
He is now on Barking Heads TLC, and again its been really good, he really seems to enjoy the taste, but now we are finding that he seems starving after eating and the poops are poor again, especially after exercise.
So I’m now thinking of changing foods again and I feel stuck.
I don’t want to try raw again, we tried that before the Barking Heads and he cried and fussed and refused to touch it.
Does anyone have any advice?
Should he be grain free? Should I choose a recipe that’s high in meat or lower in meat? which meats tend to suit sensitive tums? brown rice? oats?
I’m in a spin!
It sounds as if your dog could possibly be refusing food that is disagreeing with him. From the history you have given, the only commonality seems to be that the products you have tried have largely been grain free. The carbohydrates are usually provided by sweet and white potato. The latter can sometimes be problematic for some dogs.
The usual advice for dogs who are prone to colitis is to provide good quality fibre such as brown rice. You can search on the Dog Food Directory for foods containing this. The cold pressed products such as Markus Muhle, Gentle, Guru and Tribal might be worth considering. They are often recommended for dogs with gut problems and the reviews are largely positive.
A word of warning though - these products are dense, therefore you need to weigh them accurately. The amount in the bowl will look quite small in comparison to kibble. The RDA for the first three is 1% to 1.2% of ideal body weight. They can be softened with warm (not hot) water to the consistency of choice.
It might help to supplement with something like Lintbells YuDigest for a short period. It should improve gut flora.
My cockapoo had issues with soft poop and had to have anal glands done every 4 weeks. For the first 6 months he was on various kibble including Canagan and Gentle but nothing helped. I then went onto raw for a year but occasional soft poop and anal gland issues continued. Then 6 months ago I switched him onto Forthglade Wet. I started him off with the Turkey and Butternut Squash (sweet potato gives him the runs) and that seemed to agree with him. He now has their brown rice varieties (lamb and ocean fish) three or four days a week and then the non rice variety on the other days. This seems to have sorted his issues out. I also now give him an occasional teaspoonful of AllBran (altho start with just a little). Anal glands are now only needed to be done every 10 weeks or so and I am hoping this will continue to improve. Good luck!!
I have 2 cocker spaniels aged 8 mths and their poo is so irregular
One day they would be fine next really loose
And sometimes they will even eat it if it’s firm
They look good coats are fine and have a bundle of energy
Can someone recommend a feed
Cost is irrelevant
Thanks
Hello and welcome to the forum. Please can you tell us what you are currently feeding and how much they are getting in 24 hours? Include treats and extras such as family food please.